Sunday, February 24, 2008

It's been wet and rainy here, again. I was not eager to leave the house much, and was happy to have all the ingredients on hand for a hearty chicken and rice soup. If my minestrone soup was to clean out the pantry this pretty much cleaned out the crisper drawer--a good thing since some of these veggies were a bit past their prime.

Chicken and rice is the gluten-free family's chicken noodle soup. Everything is right with the world when you have a steamy bowl of homecooked goodness.

using a food processer, blender or hand chopper, chop up all the vegetables into whatever sized pieces your family likes.

I don't have a food processer, so I used the Vita Mix.

A container full of vegetables

turned into this

dump all ingredients into your crockpot stoneware insert

cook on low for as long as you can--the longer the better.

The Verdict:

This makes a lot. I'm going to eat it for lunch each day this upcoming week, and I packaged a few tupperwares to give to family. The flavor was perfect---but I did add a bit of salt and pepper to the grown-up portions. The kids have eaten it for dinner the past two nights and probably will again tonight.

in this ckn and rice recipe did you use regular brown rice? o converted? i used Carolina regular and it was still raw after 12hrs!!! I tried to cook it longer and then it burned. I have such a hard time w/ brown rice!

I really wanted to like this because I had just a smidge of chicken left over, but this was bland, bland, bland. I did broccoli, carrots and celery for the veggies, used homemade chicken stock, and added some garlic and lots of bay leaves, but it just didn't do it for me. Plus, the rice exploded after all day cooking.

Any ideas what might have gone wrong? I was so looking forward to having dinner made for a few nights, but I'm going to have to force myself to eat this one for lunches by myself or give it to the dog, I'm afraid.

If you still have the soup, it will taste better today. Soup tastes better the next day. If your homemade broth had little to no sodium, you are going to have to add salt. Your tongue wants salt.

lol on the rice exploding. I'm sorry. Cooking with rice is so tricky---the ratio needs to be right, etc. and I'm just now discovering that different elevations have a lot to do with things. I'm at sea level.

You can use long grain brown basmati for long periods of time---but rice does get mushy in a soup base. We're okay with it--but I can see how it could be off-putting.

I'm sorry to have led you astray---I'm learning right along with you all here.

Not making this in the crockpot because I want to eat it relatively soon, but it smells delish. Thanks for the idea :) I only used some carrots and celery (though my chicken was leftover filling for tamales, so I had all those spices, plus corn and chiles), so next time I'll have to experiment with some different veggies. This one is a keeper :)

I love you. I love your book. I love your website. I think you should have a member fee to access it, it is so very helpful and special. I will also love your next book, but I would pay any member fee you would come up with. You have made my life so much nicer with your slow cooker recipes.

Now for this soup. I love it but I want to share some tweaks I made just to show how goofy some people can be.

I substituted the second box of broth for a box of "Pacific Natural Foods Carrott Ginger Cashew All Natural Soup (I think it was the cashews that added 3.5 g of Saturated Fat (aargh), so I won't do that again, but very lush.

I substituted the Herb de P with Allspice for some reason. Not bad. But I will definitely make this again your way. I minced green onions, celery, and broc in my coffee grinder. It worked.

Did I say I love you? Your book? Your next book? Your website? I am 69 years old, why weren't you born sooner? I have miny, miny slow cooker books, and yours is the very best, hands down. Do not disappear from my life.

It's probably about time I told you how much my family loves this. I make it every few weeks as a way to clean out the refrigerator. I love how versatile it is. Today, I used barley instead of brown rice, 2 chicken breasts because that is all I had and a multitude of "needs to be used NOW" veggies. It always turns out delicious and it's great that it makes a lot. Very frugal and I love that I don't have to throw out any veggies anymore.

I just made this soup. It turned out fantastic. I love all of the veggies in it. I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of the herbs de provence. I didn't have any on hand and just used a bit of marjoram, basil, french tyme and rosemary. I cooked this over night and will have it for lunch today. Very hearty! Thank you.

this is in my crockpot right now. i took down my frozen cooked turkey (we got 4 turkeys during xmas time, so we are slowly going through them) and made 2 pot pies and had leftover diced up meat so looked around in your recipes till i found one that needed already cooked chicken. great way to utilize those veggies i still had laying around. been in for 3 hours and it looks fantastic and smells fantastic. i hope my hubby enjoys it! (i went vegan for lent, so i will have to find out from him how it tastes)

my hubby LOVED it! so easy to cook....5 hours on low, then i kept in on warm for 6 more hours. looked and smelled so delicious, i was very tempted to try a bite. i will be making this next weekend with TVP and veggie stock. and i am calling up my celiac momma tonight and telling her about this recipe!

ok, I looked up your recipe on cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot, so this weekend I skinned the chicken and cooked. Oh my goodness was it great. My 13 year old gobble it up.Then I looked up how to make chicken broth, so with the carcuss I made your broth.Now I am cooking your chicken and rice soup with the leftover chicken. I can't wait until it's done cooking. I found this website from my sister-in-law and am so thankful for all your recipes. Keep up the good work.

I love your website! I would love your feedback if you have the time to offer it-- I tried making this chicken and rice soup recipe recently. I used homemade chicken broth, some shredded chicken breasts, a combo of long grain brown rice/brown basmati, shredded veggies, and herbs.... cooked on low for about 6 hours... and it turned out awful :( this is actually the 4th or 5th crockpot recipe i've made lately that has turned out tasting kind of bitter. Am I overcooking? Some friends suggest crock pot liners, but i'm not sure that would improve taste... would love your opinion!